acquaintance

American  

[uh-kweyn-tns] / əˈkweɪn tns /

Also acquaintanceship

noun

• acquaintances
  plural

1. a person known to one, but usually not a close friend.

2. the state of being acquainted or casually familiar with someone or something.

   As far as I know, no one of my acquaintance has traveled around the world.

3. personal knowledge as a result of study, experience, etc..

   a good acquaintance with French wines.

   Synonyms:

   awareness, familiarity

4. (used with a plural verb) the persons with whom one is acquainted.

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acquaintance British  

/ əˈkweɪntəns /

noun

1. a person with whom one has been in contact but who is not a close friend

2. knowledge of a person or thing, esp when slight

3. to come into social contact with

4. those persons collectively whom one knows

5. philosophy the relation between a knower and the object of his knowledge, as contrasted with knowledge by description (esp in the phrase knowledge by acquaintance )

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acquaintance Idioms  

1. see nodding acquaintance; scrape up an acquaintance.

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Synonym Usage

Acquaintance, associate, companion, friend refer to a person with whom one is in contact. An acquaintance is someone recognized by sight or someone known, though not intimately: a casual acquaintance. An associate is a person who is often in one's company, usually because of some work, enterprise, or pursuit in common: a business associate. A companion is a person who shares one's activities, fate, or condition: a traveling companion; companion in despair. A friend is a person with whom one is on intimate terms and for whom one feels a warm affection: a trusted friend.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• acquaintanceship
  noun
• nonacquaintance
  noun
• nonacquaintanceship
  noun
• preacquaintance
  noun
• pseudoacquaintance
  noun
• reacquaintance
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acquaintances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acquaintance

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English acoyntaunce, aqueinta(u)nce, from Old French acointance; equivalent to acquaint + -ance

Explanation

An acquaintance is someone you know a little about, but they’re not your best friend or anything. Acquaintance is also having knowledge about something specific, like horror films or the farming techniques of Chinese peasants. The root of acquaintance is the Old French word acointier, a verb meaning “make known.” Being the acquaintance of a person or topic means that you know something about it. An acquaintance is less intimate than a friend, like a person in your class whose name you know, but that’s it. When you “make the acquaintance of” someone, you meet them for the first time. If you know nothing about eggplants, you’d say, “I have little acquaintance with eggplants.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acquaintance acquaintances

Earlier that day, however, witnesses testified that Powers had argued with a mutual acquaintance of Byrd and Roberts named Bud.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

"A friend, family member, coworker, classmate, or acquaintance may recognise these patterns of expression and possess information that could help identify the individual responsible," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

But Miles struggles futilely to stay at his desk, frequently escaping to explore Greensbury and to make the acquaintance of the town’s inhabitants, a decidedly quirky lot.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

The US president refers to Munir as his "favourite field marshal", following their acquaintance in the aftermath of conflict with India that Trump helped mediate last year.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

‘I be very pleased to make your acquaintance.’

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Relatives and acquaintances called my parents, urging them to make me delete my videos or face the consequences.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

In 1952, Greenspan married an abstract expressionist artist named Joan Mitchell and soon came under the intellectual sway of one of her acquaintances, Ayn Rand, author of “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

I’ve tried for a year to get some of my closest acquaintances to understand why this song is so great, why I find it so bizarrely beautiful, but few do.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026

Trump and Sean “Diddy” Combs have been known acquaintances for years—or whatever it’s called when two rich and famous dudes in entertainment are often invited to the same charity events, galas, and afterparties.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

Of course they visited acquaintances of Father and Mother, who sometimes had children.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

Related Words

• associate
• colleague
• companion
• friend
• neighbor